16 Year Old Pedestrian Hit By Multiple Vehicles In Graves County, Kentucky

A 16 year old female was walking along Ky 131 near Symsonia Elementary School when she was struck by a vehicle and then struck by a second vehicle. This tragic Kentucky pedestrian auto accident happened Sunday. Initial reports indicate that the teenager was walking along the roadway where there were not sidewalks available to pedestrians, when a vehicle driven by Baleda Johnson, age 49, of Hickory, which was traveling north on Ky 131, attempted to avoid the young girl but hit her as she was walking. Reports further indicate that Ms. Johnson stopped her vehicle to call 911 and render assistance, when the teenage was again struck by another vehicle, driven by Olive Barrett, age 82, of Benton. The teenage has suffered severe injuries and was air lifted to Vanderbilt Medical Center.

Comments linked to initial news reports seem to show that public sympathy is lacking for this young girl who was hit. Here is a link to the Western Kentucky Star news where posts appear with comments that teens are possibly to blame for how they walk along this roadway.

(Link) http://www.westkentuckystar.com/News/Local-Regional/Western-Kentucky/16-Year-Old-Hit-by-Two-Vehicles-in-Front-of-School.aspx
However, the law in Kentucky is that motorists owe a duty to pedestrians to be on the look out for them and drive safely around them. This teenage, who was walking along the roadway, had a legal right to do such. Motorists have a legal duty to be in control of their vehicles and mindful of their surroundings, so as to not cause injuries or accidents to others. Additionally, the fact that there are not any sidewalks in the area where the teenage girl was hit further demonstrates that she was justified in walking along the road. Other factors such as the accident scene being near a school and businesses, coupled with reading the posts linked to the news story that indicate that the area is well known for teens walking along the road, indicate that motorists should have a heightened knowledge of the potential for pedestrians and thus be more cautious.
This young girl has legal rights related this accident. In the opinion of our law firm she has Kentucky Personal Injury Claims for legal damages (Click here for further explanation of Kentucky Legal Damages) from this accident against both drivers who hit her. The legal complexities that will come into play in an accident like this will be that the insurance companies and their attorneys for the drivers will attempt to try to place blame for the accident on the teen and her actions just prior to this accident. This will become a factual argument over who is at fault and for what percentage of the accident. Kentucky law on “Comparative Fault”, allows for percentages of fault to be assigned to different parties for each accident. Those percentages are then applied to the legal damages claimed by each party in relation to the other party’s fault. An additional potential legal problem faced in accidents like this is the amount of legal damages sustained by the victims and the availability of adequate insurance coverage for the damages. As such, as can already be seen, accidents like this become legal problems for the victims from the onset of the accidents.

More information about pedestrian legal right and accident victim’s legal rights can be sought from the Ackerson Law Offices, via its website www.kyfirm.com.